Flying on Mechanical Wings
by LapisRuth-Shizuka
Summary: What does Tony Stark do when he has a teenage weapon, who doesn't really like him, on his hands?


**Disclaimer: I do not own Iron Man or anyone in it except for Mandi and a few others.**

Yay! Okay this is my first story and I really hope that you like it. I really hope that I'm not Mary Suing or anything like that, I would hate it, but please, if you don't like it, don't chew me out, okay? Any suggestions to help me improve would be great though!

_I knelt over Pepper's body, staring at her still form in horror. She lay on the ground in a small pool of crimson blood. My heart thudded in my chest, I couldn't breathe. What have I done? I felt myself beginning to hyperventilate. No matter how hard I tried, I couldn't seem to look away, my legs refused to move even though my brain commanded them to get help. I looked down at my hands. They were covered in blood, Pepper's blood. _

_The color drained from Pepper's cheeks and, even though I wasn't touching her, I could feel that she was growing colder, but I could still hear her breathing. Poor Pepper. She was so good to me, even if I was different, an outsider, she still treated me with kindness, like I were a real human being. Not that I wasn't human. Oh no, I was _very _human indeed. But there was something _very _different about me. Pepper Potts didn't care, she still showed her concern for me._

_Suddenly I heard a loud crash as an iron clad man burst through the ceiling; landed hard on the tiled floor, crushing the surface. The man that was in the iron suit saw Pepper on the floor surrounded by a puddle of blood. Then his masked face looked up at me, his glowing slits for eyes never left me._

_" What did you do to her?" he asked in a strange, almost mechanical voice that lacked monotony. Iron Man wasted no time to reach Pepper. His movements were frantic and I could tell he was scanning her to see the wound. The iron suit made a slight clink when he knelt down on the floor next to Pepper's unmoving body. He put a hand under her strawberry blond head and lifted it gently off the ground. " Pepper?" Iron Man was obviously worried even though his masked face portrayed no expression other than that of total seriousness._

_I stood up and took several steps back as I swallowed a lump that formed in my throat. I was totally aware of the fact that Tony thought I was the one who hurt her, he was _sure_ of it. It was unfair that he would think such a thing, he knew me almost better than anyone else and he actually believed that I had harmed Miss Potts. _

_I was too afraid to speak. Afraid that he'd lash out at me and not let me finish what I had to say, I sucked in my breath to keep myself from breathing faster than I already was. " I-I didn't-"_

_Tony looked up at me behind his gold face plate which was enough to make me choke on my own breath. I watched helplessly as he placed Pepper's head carefully back onto the floor. It was evident that she needed immediate medical attention, but it seemed that Tony had put that aside momentarily because his full, undivided attention was on me. His fingers curled up into tight fists, I could tell that he was trying to keep himself from breaking every bone in my body, even though I was practically a kid, but to him, at that moment, he saw me as an experiment. A cold hearted, has-no-feelings experiment._

_I took a small step forward to protest and try to explain once again, but his hand flew up to expose the repulsor that glowed brightly in his palm._

_I stopped dead in my tracks. Did he really plan on...? The sting of tears welled up in my eyes, I only knew, too well, what was about to happen. My eyes widened as a strong wave of energy forcefully blew my ass into a far end wall. I was lucky I didn't die, or maybe not so lucky, I couldn't tell. My body lie limp on the ground. I struggled to get up, but before I could even get on my knees, I was whisked off the floor with a mercilessly painful grip on my arm. Then I was face to face with Iron Man. He shoved me hard into the wall again, knocking the frigging wind out of me. _

_" I didn't hurt Pepper!" I shrieked helplessly, gripping Tony's wrist with a free hand. But he only squeezed my arm tighter. I gritted my teeth in pain. God, let this be a nightmare. I looked down at my fingers that smeared Pepper's blood onto Tony's armor, then I looked up again to meet Tony's iron fist in my face._

" Mandi, wake up!" I woke up to Tony shaking me by the arm. His eyes were filled with concern, but I didn't see that. Instead I still saw a fist that was about to smash my face in, and my arms flew up to protect my head.

" Calm down." Tony let go of my arm and sat at the edge of my bed, I could feel his gaze practically burning a hole into my very core. Cold beads of sweat rolled heavily down my temples. I put my arm down and forced myself to stop shivering and panting like a cold, wet dog. Tony placed a hand on my shoulder, trying to steady me as I breathed deeply, willing myself not to burst into tears at what I saw.

Tony obviously knew that something was wrong with me because he wouldn't stop frigging observing me like I was some kind of alien. It drove me nuts! Why did he have to be so nosy in his own little way? He would watch every move you'd make and then automatically he knew what was going on in your head. It'd take a damn good actress and liar to actually pull it off. I was learning how to control my emotions and body language so that Tony wouldn't catch on to me. Gees, that guy really scared me sometimes, and this was one of those moments where I wish I could disintegrate into nothingness.

Tony gripped my shoulder, " Are you okay?" he asked, shifting his position so that he was able to make eye contact with me.

I looked away from him, God, even after he was being nice to me I still didn't like him. He smelled strongly of alcohol, cologne, and sweat Tony must've been in his workshop drinking his nasty beer and figuring out ways to improve on his Iron Man suit. Why I had that dream I have no idea; I'm pretty sure I'm losing my frigging mind though.

" Mandi," Now both of Tony's hands were on my shoulders as he was trying to make me look at him, " Mandi, look at me."

I sighed heavily and did as I was told. I looked into his eyes that were filled with determination and gleamed with bright intelligence. Don't get me wrong, I thought he was cute, but his background story seriously needed work. And just because I think he's cute does not mean that I like him.

Tony opened his mouth and was about to say something, but I interrupted him with an impatient shake of the head and pushed his hands off my shoulders, " Tony, it's too early in the morning and I don't want to talk about it; I don't want to hear any questions, it was a nightmare, and that's it." I dismissed the subject before it even got started. I really _really_ wasn't in the mood for one of Tony's " Tell me what the matter is" crap.

Tony looked down at the bed sheets with a slight nod, " Okay, but we're going to talk about this later," his eyes then looked back up at mine, making the stern expression clear on his face, before getting up to leave.

I put my head in my hands. Nope. Tony was not one who would just drop a subject, sooner or later it would come up again and then I'd be in even more hell. When I heard the door click behind him I lay back down on my bed, wrapping myself into the soft, silk covers and stayed awake until I eventually fell into a deep, dreamless sleep.

I hope you liked the first Chapter!


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